Monty (Idris Elba) is a mechanic struggling to make ends meet while raising his three young daughters. When the court awards custody of his daughters to his ex-wife, Monty desperately tries to win them back with the help o... more &raquof Julia (Gabrielle Union), a beautiful, Ivy League-educated attorney. Monty and Julia couldn't be less alike, but a flame is ignited...touching off a firestorm of love and conflict.&laquo less

Movie Reviews

I know most folks won't agree with me, but....

The Fancy One | Westchester County, NY | 08/12/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I thought this was the weakest of all the Tyler Perry movies, my favorite being "Diary of a Mad Black Woman". I'm sorry, but a lot of it just didn't make sense to me. I wanted to love this film, knowing the premise of it, but there was just too many contradictive characters and scenarios in this movie to make it believable. However, the best part of the movie was watching Idris Elba ("The Wire") as Monty, who made this film watchable for me. He does a good job with the role of an attentive, hard-working black single father who truly loves his children and wants custody of them after their guardian (his ex's mother) passes away. His role drives home the point that contrary to what is widely believed about black men not giving a damn about the children they bring into this world, there are PLENTY of men like Monty out there!! It's time they got the credit that they deserve instead of being pigeon-holed as deadbeats who don't care. I have to give Tyler Perry props for attempting to dispel a stereotype in the black community by making this movie. This was the main reason why I was so anxious to see this film when it came out in the theatres. However, to truly enjoy this movie, you need to abandon any sense of reality, sensibility and logic because "Daddy's Little Girls" lack all three.

Beyond Monty's character and the three adorable girls who portray his daughters, though, the film, the story and the other characters just don't cut it. The story isn't even about "Daddy's Little Girls" but everyone else around them. The performance of Tasha Smith, who plays Jennifer, Monty's ex-wife and the mother of the three girls, is so shamefully over the top (like mostly everything else in this movie) it's almost laughable. She's an uncaring, overbearing, heartless and totally ghetto-fabulous parent who only cares about bling-bling and is dating a notoriously feared neighborhood drug dealer (Gary Sturgis, who constantly plays the same type of character in different movies, and badly, I might add). She gives Monty no respect and shows her kids no love. How in the world, you wonder, did a good-hearted man like Monty get involved with a shrew like this?? To me, it's just ridiculous that custody of these children could be granted to her when everyone and their mama in the film (including the police) knows her live-in boyfriend is a criminal. Plus, what is Jennifer's reason for wanting custody, when she shows nothing but contempt for them and really doesn't want them around? Where is Children's Protective Services in this case? Didn't they do ANY kind of investigation into the kind of household that these girls would be placed into? I'm sorry, but this is not reality.

Gabrielle Union does the best she can as Julia. But her character was just too high and mighty for me to feel any kind of connection with her, not unlike most of the roles she plays. In this film, she's an uptight high-powered attorney with an acrid and condescending attitude - a typical Alpha female whose career is her life, and money and status means everything, and yes, she's been hurt in the past. Yet she complains about how she can't find a man on her level. Well, excuse us. For someone who looks down on most black men as being trifling and good for nothing - especially black men who were NOT white collar - how could she expect to find ANYONE? She was hard to sympathize with. It seemed extremely unlikely that Julia would not only agree to represent Monty in court, who clearly didn't have the funds to pay her, but end up falling for him as well. Monty is strictly a blue collar working class guy, holding down two jobs as a mechanic and a chauffeur. What in the world could they possibly have in common? Why would Julia lower her standards and settle for someone she REALLY doesn't want, just because she's lonely? It doesn't make sense that she would change her mind just like that; getting pissy drunk on her birthday being with Monty wouldn't and shouldn't have made a difference. I've noticed a pattern in most (not all, but most) of Tyler's films: good guy is a man who is just an average, working class joe, villain is the man who has power and money and abuses them both to manipulate the people around him, a woman who has been abused in some form or fashion, and don't forget to throw in an evil, vindictive female as someone's mother.

Her stuck-up buppie friends (Terri J. Vaughn, Tracey Ellis Ross) are annoying and just as convoluted as the movie is. They fix her up on blind dates with losers, and for women who are as class-conscious and picky as they are, the choice of these men as ideal dates for Gabrielle's character is baffling. One is a loud, uncultured 40-year-old wannabe rapper who is "between jobs" and the other a charming, but cheating Lothario whose wife happens to be pregnant and has a houseful of kids - yet they have the nerve to look down on Monty, who is single, working not only one but TWO jobs and is trying to go into business for himself. Even with all this going for him, in their eyes, he wasn't good enough for their homegirl - but those other guys were??? There is something seriously WRONG with this entire picture because that concept made NO sense whatsoever. There are more holes in this script than a slice of Swiss cheese, so need I go on?

Again, I have to say that I can appreciate the message Tyler Perry wanted to make with this movie, but this is just a hot mess all around. Not even the addition of the great Oscar-winning Louis Gossett, Jr. to the cast could save this. I really love TP's stage work, but this is a real comedown from what we saw in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion", and I'm not just saying that because there's no Madea in this movie. The entire screenplay is just all over the place and extremely uneven. If you are a fan of Tyler's work then you will love it, but then again, I am a HUGE fan of his and I didn't. Hope his next production, "Why Did I Get Married?" fares a lot better.

Rating: 2 1/2 stars"

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

DC | LILBURN,GA | 05/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OKAY I WILL ADMIT WHEN THIS MOVIE FIRST CAME OUT I WANTED TO SEE IT ,BUT WAS NOT ABLE TO AND I THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE ONE OF THOSE DAD HAS KIDS, DAD LOOSES KIDS BLAH BLAH!!..BELIEVE NE IT WAS NOT..I JUST SAW THIS MOVIE AND TO MY SURPRISE IT WAS REALLY GOOD..MAN IDRIS IS SO SEXY IN THIS MOVIE.GABRIELLE WAS AMAZING AS WELL..THIS WAS A TOUCHING MOVIE AND I RECOMMEND IT FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY..IT HAS SOME KISSING SCENES THAT MY SON CLOSED HIS EYES TO.BUT IT WAS A GREAT MOVIE..IT SHOWS YOU THAT NOT ALL BLACK MEN ARE DEAD BEAT.AND THAT THERE ARE SOME OUT THERE WHO LOVE AND WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR KIDS.I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THIS MOVIE ON DVD...TRUST ME YOU WILL LOVE IT..!!!!"

FINALLY Represented

2PCLP | Roswell, GA | 06/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This work of art finally represents Black men in a strong and positive light despite the trials and tribulations of daily life that attack our sanity. Tyler Perry has tapped in the conscientiousness of numerous Black men in America, who feel misrepresented by society's stereotypes. There are multiple important stories woven into the fabric of this masterpiece; such as, love has no economic barriers, good men do exist (they may be right next to you now), good things come to those who wait, do the right thing and the right thing will be given unto you. The sound track also scream volumes for most of us. This is a "movie night" DVD that should be shared with many; single, divorced and married."

This movie kind of sucks

Lucky 07 | NYC | 10/28/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not going to write a huge massive story here however this movie just doesn't ever really start or come together. As a huge Perry fan I was grossly disappointed by the exaggeration that is 'Daddy's Little Girls'. The characters all all over-the-top and the movie is scattered and doesn't quite conclude at the end.